overweight
/ˌəʊvəˈweɪt/
"overweight" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“overweight” has 15 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #10,586. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #10,586
- frequency rank, English
- 1,431
- “O” headwords
- 15
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Having a higher weight, especially body fat, than what is generally considered healthy for a given body type and height.
Corpus desk
Index EN-overweight · overweight · English
overweight · rank #10,586 · 15 variants · 2 confusables
- FREQ-MID #10,586
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
- VAR-HIGH 15 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,431
- PHOTO-FINISH palette
Nearest frequency peer: palette (+1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “overweight”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- notebook
notebook
89,418 corpus weight
- offline
offline
89,417 corpus weight
- overweight
overweight
89,415 corpus weight
- palette
palette
89,414 corpus weight
- Payne
Payne
89,413 corpus weight
- phenomena
phenomena
89,412 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “overweight” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | overweight |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌəʊvəˈweɪt/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #10,586 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “overweight” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 15 spelling variants around overweight (IPA /ˌəʊvəˈweɪt/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #10,586 among 1,431 “O” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for overweight, with forms such as "oevrweight", "overewight", and "overrweight". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "overnight", "oversight", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From over- + weight. The correct English form is overweight, spelled O-V-E-R-W-E-I-G-H-T.
Definition
- 1Having a higher weight, especially body fat, than what is generally considered healthy for a given body type and height.
- 2Weighing more than what is allowed for safety or legal commerce.
- 3Having a portfolio relatively heavily invested in.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how overweight appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Before her diet, Jane was noticeably overweight, but she shed five kilos in the next two months.
All States allow oversized vehicles if a special permit is obtained, although most States will grant overweight permits only for non-divisible loads.
Etymology
From over- + weight.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- oevrweight
- overewight
- overrweight
- overwegiht
- overweigght
- overweighht
- overweightt
- overweigth
- overweihgt
- overwieght
- overwweight
- ovewreight
- ovreweight
- ovverweight
- voerweight
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of overweight - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "overweight"?
What does "overweight" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "overweight"?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "overweight", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (15 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "overweight". Here's where to go from here.
- "overweight" maps to 2 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "overnight". View pair
- 15 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #10,586 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "O" letter cohort. O–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.